Mystic Slippers
Jul 2002
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 Review: House Of 1000 Corpses (2003)
House Of 1000 Corpses (2003) Review by Margot Kidder.
Oh what a mistake Universal made when they dropped this movie. But it's Lions Gate who are set to reap the rewards in this somewhat troubling new movie from well known 'odd' rock star Rob Zombie and his directorial debut House of 1000 Corpses. For this movie is sick, twisted, derranged and very very disturbing.
Set in the Fall of 1977 (October 30th to be precise), the movie documents a 24hr period between 30/10 to 31/10 and the tragic tale of 4 teenagers out in the highways and byways of outback USA that fateful evening. The kids are out on a hunt of all the best and creepiest roadside shows and oddities in the USA which they wish to write up about for a book. Pretty much standard horror fare so far. When the kids stop off at a gas station run by a man with a passion for clowns and guns, thats when their evening takes a turn for the worse as he gives them directions to an old tree which, supposedly is part of the myth of a local legend called Dr. Satan. On route to the house the kids pick up a hitchiking girl and get so far before their tyre blows out. Luckily she announces her brother has a tow truck and so offers to tow them to her place so they can fix the car...
For the duration of it's 90min running time i was left gripped to the screen wanting to watch this movie through to the end. Somewhat worryingly this wasn't because i found the movie scary. Far from it, this isn't that type of movie. What it is though is deeply troubling to the mind and your thoughts as to why the hell you'd want to watch this in the first place if it wasn't to be scared (something which i find myself asking still now a good 15mins after i finished watching the movie).
At first you'd be forgiven if you were watching an Oliver Stone movie as Zombie (Robert to his friends lol) shows a somewhat obvious love of Mr. Stones work in this movies style, camerawork and editing. We are treated to a barrage of fast moving cuts, flashes, sounds and strange 1950's imagery along with the appropriate splashes of blood, wails of peril and traditional screams all much needed for a movie of this calibre. The somewhat 'eclectic' soundtrack also helps to shuffle this movie along at a reasonable pace.
It's quite clear that besides Mr. Zombie's directorial influences, we can see the movie has also been inspired by such movies as Natural Born Killers, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Frankenstein aswell as a whole homage to the early 50's and 60's hammer movies. This movie somehow melds all of these together in a colourful and well edited manner, unfortunately it seems as though the movie must have run out of money near the end as we see less fancy camerawork and effects as the movie evolves in to more standard schlock fare.
I'm still unsure of what to make of this movie. I know it was good and i know i enjoyed it, but i'm not quite 100% sure why. Although in it's naked premise for a movie it is standard horror fare, the way it was rolled out to the viewer was genuinely original and entertaining. We are treated to 80mins of just plain disturbing imagery and then BAM! up comes the ending. But all is not as it seems. I won't give it away, but to put it simply, the ending made a very refreshing change to the majority of Hollywood Scream style schlock we have all become accustomed to in recent years.
House Of 1000 Corpses isn't a movie i think i could watch again, although maybe with friends at a party things might be different. I can safely say though this is a nice slice of entertainment and well worth watching, just don't expect to feel quite as comfortable as you did when you hit the play button...
Recommended.
Final Score: 7/10 ''Guess what? The Boogeyman is real, and you've found him.''
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0251736
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03-10-2003 12:40 AM
.. i'll do it!
she was worth the 4$. but the movie, was more of a comedy to me.
